"I think that New Mexico was the greatest experience from the outside world that I ever had.
It certainly changed me forever ... The moment I saw the brilliant proud morning (sun) shine high up over the deserts of Santa Fe,
something stood still in my soul."
~D.H. Lawrence

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Spanish Broom

I had never heard of Spanish Broom until I came to New Mexico. I understand it is non-native to the United States, and in some states on the west coast it is considered a noxious weed, but not here in NM. Here in our state it thrives and is in full bloom right now.

I have four Spanish broom shrubs at my house. Here are a few pictures:

In the PNW we called it Scotch Broom and while I embraced it as a beautiful plant, I was all alone. I guess it was brought in to control erosion and just took over, whole hillsides, fields etc are covered in it and in a variety of colors. We have a nice yellow one here but had several different colors in Seattle.